Dollar Tree is in a little better shape, but it will still need several quarters of revenue growth to approach stability. The limited amount of float it carries; puts Dollar Tree in a vulnerable position in a rapidly changing retail environment.

Incomes for Dollar Tree’s target market, the lower class, fell even more. Pew reported that the average lower class household made $26,496 a year in 2000 and $24,074 in 2014. That is a $2,422 drop in income, meaning that the average lower-class household’s income has fallen by 10% in 15 years.

Safeway and Albertsons currently have around 2,230 stores—almost as many as Kroger—but they had combined revenues of $60 billion in 2014, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. In contrast, Kroger, which operates 2,619 supermarkets, reported a TTM revenue of $108.47 billion on January 31, 2015. Kroger’s TTM revenue grew by 8.55% in 2015.

My prediction is that CVS’s revenue will continue to grow but none of its competitors will follow its lead and go tobacco free. Instead, CVS will be something of an anomaly, which will buy it a lot of good publicity and support from the healthcare industry.

Walmart has figured out how to make a successful small box format. Companies like Dollar Tree Stores (NASDAQ: DLTR) and Dollar General (NYSE: DG) as well as regional grocers had better take notice. Walmart has proven itself capable of producing a better small box store.

• Abolish the payroll or withholding taxes, which take a percentage of a person’s salary. These hit the working poor heavily, and they do not raise enough money to cover the costs of programs like Social Security and Medicare.

Walmart is no longer on the cutting edge of retail; it cannot even compete with bottom-feeding dollar stores. The Behemoth from Bentonville still makes a lot of money; it just cannot attract any new customers. What is going on here?

Yes it is a bit of a dark horse, but Rite Aid does meet some of Warren Buffett’s value criteria: it is a good company that has been going through a rough patch yet still has the potential to generate a lot of cash. It also has an easy-to-understand business model in a decidedly unglamorous industry—selling shaving cream and prescriptions. Rite Aid also meets another one of Uncle Warren’s classic criteria: it is a company that an idiot could run if necessary.